Four Days in Transylvania, and Not a Single Bite to Show For It.

My apologies, I know its been ages since I have posted. It has
been an incredibly busy week, and I just haven’t had the time to
actually sit and organize my thoughts.
First, let me start with a huge compliment to the boys, Vin in particular, who hosted a dinner party for us last week. It was wonderful; Vin made a spectacular
spread, homemade bread and gnocchi, as well as great pasta. It was lovely, and put our previous dinner party to shame. We are still trying to recover from the humiliation and piece together our broken pride as future homemakers and housewives. After the lovely dinner, we bade goodbye to the boys, whom we would see in 6 short hours, as our bus was due to depart Hero Square at 6:30am. Again, a painful hour, made all the more difficult to face knowing we had an eight-hour bus ride, complete with bathroom stops every 45 mins. For some reason, our group seems to be composed solely of the tiny-bladdered.

Well, after what seemed like forever we finally reached Transylvania!
Spooky? Scary? Vampires? Sadly, I do not think I saw a single bat. However, it was certainly cold and rainy; worth noting were the 2 hours we spent at a Romanian market, in the pouring rain. As well as the terrifying walk back to the bus, on the side of a road, being splashed by the passing semis… it was awful, but funny to think back on now.

Giving a play by play of the 4 day trip would bore you to tears, as it did to us for a good part of the time. However, this excursion did what none of the others had, and that was to give us a view into the lives of the people who inhabit the region. We were primarily in the Kalotaszeg region, a mainly Hungarian area known for its textiles and woodwork. For all of you who aren’t up on your 20th century world history, after WWI with the Treaty of Trianon, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken into multiple different regions, because that is what happens when you lose a war. The Hungarian are still a bit bitter about the entire affair because they lost about 2/3 of their previous territory, including Transylvania. Basically making Hungary a
country surrounded by Hungarians. Very convenient.

So, back to the excursion, it was quite an experience. For everyone who knows me well,I will summarize it in 3 words: no indoor plumbing. Yes… I used an outhouse, for four days, while it was practically snowing. Now,aren’t you all proud of me? After getting over the initial shock, I actually came to adore the host family I was staying with. There was Rex, the dog who was chained to the outhouse, we had some good times together. Then of course, my favorite was Norbert, the pig. We asked his name and our host family laughed, meaning of course, that we don’t name dinner. So we, in horror, named him Norbert. Moreover, there were some chickens, which I managed to wake up at 3am trying to find the outhouse, and they started cock-a-doodle-dooing. Can we please stop and picture me, at 3am, -3° C, trying to get to the outhouse, waking up the rooster, and being scared out of my mind by the dog? Good, I’m glad you’ve all had a laugh now.
As for our actual family, Ebi and Istvan, they were the sweetest people, and we desperately wanted to bring Ebi back home with us so she could cook us food forever. I’m am not kidding when I say I gained 5lbs in 4 days from eating her food. It was
delicious; I couldn’t help but eat 3 servings. The last night we were there it was Istvan ’s birthday, and we all celebrated, singing Happy Birthday, drinking beer that he bought for us from the local bar, and eating more than I thought possible. Let me also add that they did not speak a work of English. Therefore, communication was limited but hilarious. There were 5 of us in the house, and between our terrible Hungarian, and sign language, we managed to almost have conversations. We saw a ton of traditional Hungarian costumes, the most detailed, beautiful embroidery, too many churches to mention, and ate plates and plates of great food. It was certainly not what I expected the trip to be like, but it was wonderful nonetheless.

And on a hilarious note… Stephen Colbert finally announced his intention to run for President of the United States. Finally, a candidate I get behind.

Hungarian phrase of the day:
Nagyon finnom! “Very delicious”